Betta Fins Splitting

[c'merefishyfishy]

I have a large regular ol VT Betta who has split all of his fins. He is in a 25 gallon tank with three Oto's and a bunch of ghost shrimp. The tank was meant as an experiment in growing live plants and he got thrown in there for kicks. He looks happy as a clam, swimming all over and through the plants and around, resting on the leaves of the plants or between the stems, etc. He is one of my more temperamental bettas and barely tolerates the Otos. He chases them if he sees them but they just get out of the way and don't seem very bothered by it. The ghost shrimp he completely ignores (and they avoid him). I haven't noticed the otos or the ghost shrimp ever go after him.

I guess because of all of the exercise, he has split his tail tin, his lower fin and the top fin (I don't know the real names). When I got him (probably 6-12 months ago) he was missing one of his ventrals about halfway down. And he was full sized already. He is a big fat betta. Probably an old man, I love his little bald face ;-)

Anyways, he has "blown" his fins probably from exercising too much. Rather than revoke his gym membership, can I just let it go? As long as it isn't fin rot issues is it 'ok' to let him 'blow' his fins if he's having fun doing it?

It's hard to tell in the pictures but his caudal fin is just starting to split and his er...bottom fin...is split pretty good. The top fin is sort of stringy along the top but has always been that way.

 

[Mr.September15]

Are you sure he split his fin? All my VT'S are like that ... Then they were always split since day 1. Ooops. Thats enough flaring for them.

-Arrowhead.

 

[catxx]

i've had my VT do that as well
silly boy

i gave him a little fin rot meds at first, just to make sure
and moved to a tank with no current, he's slowly starting to heal up again

is it from too much flaring? i thought he might have caught it on something...

 

[CatLover]

Oh! He looks just like my Rodchester

I had a betta do that once. His anal fin had 2 rips in it. They weren't very bad, but big enough to where they were very noticeable. I just kept lots of Bettamax and Stresscoat in his tank along with frequent water changes, and his fin was completely healed in a matter of days.

I doubt your boy's tearing would be caused by the action of flaring, but now that it is torn, excessive flaring can cause the tear to worsen. Stress from seeing other male bettas a lot could have caused him to chew his tail, or he could have gotten it caught on something.

His tears don't look bad at all, and I think if you used the method I did, or something very similar, your boy will be good as new!

I have seen VT bettas with fins that naturally looked ripped. Some rays (especially on the outter ends) just lack good webbing, so it looks like a small piece has been torn. This looks like the case of your boy's anal fin (the lower fin on his belly), but that's just a guess. If he was like that from day 1 and it never healed, then he was born like that. If he just recently aquired that look, then obviously they are torn, and will grow back. Do keep at least Stresscoat, if nothing else, in his tank. It's amazing how fast these little guys can catch that nasty disease

 

[bettaBetta]

It seems to happen to males in large aquariums. My old male who lived in a 20G blew his tail bad and it happend over and over no matter what I did, but he actually seemed happy to be able to move around more. I think all the excercise in a big aquariums with a betta with large fins might be too stressful on the fins so the fins tear and adapt.